


a smile like the sun(flowers you're trying to grow)

by blackbirdsfolly



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Gardens & Gardening, Headcanon, M/M, and neither does simmons, i dont know anything about gardening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:41:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24183031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackbirdsfolly/pseuds/blackbirdsfolly
Summary: One of the reasons they were put on Iris was because the weather is fuckingincredible.Always. Which makes for good gardening!If you know how to garden.
Relationships: Dexter Grif/Dick Simmons
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	a smile like the sun(flowers you're trying to grow)

If there was one thing Grif liked most about Iris, it was the perpetual good weather.

Sure, the fact that he got to sit back and do virtually nothing everyday was sweet as hell, but the pleasant temperature and cloudless, sunny days reminded him of the good times back home. The times where he’d get a break from being Kai’s caretaker and got to act like her brother for once, taking her down to the beach and buying her ice cream and watching her torment the local boys from the safety of the towel on the sand. 

It was hot on Iris- but not like it was in Blood Gulch, where it was burning and arid and the midnight sun scorched every living being to oblivion. It was generally pretty tropical. Constant good beach weather; and, as Simmons liked to insist, good gardening weather.

The other red had taken to gardening during their time stranded in the canyon on Chorus, which was only furthered by Donut’s encouragement. While there was no need to grow vegetables to keep their food stocks up, Simmons still seemed to be a fan of it. He had been planting flowers of all kinds, and tending to them with fervent diligence. 

He seemed most excited about the sunflowers. Grif knew it was way too humid for them to thrive here- the high water content in the air would cause the flowers to mold and rot before they got a chance to grow substantially. But he hadn’t the heart to tell Simmons… Every time he saw the nerd’s bright smile and twinkling eyes as he explained the nuances of gardening to an extremely disinterested Sarge, it made Grif’s heart skip a beat. He was ashamed to admit that seeing Simmons so happy, so unapologetically enraptured by an activity, filled him with joy. The excitement was contagious. 

He’d see Simmons crouched down in the fenced plot of land dedicated to his hobby pretty much every day, checking on the sprouts and watering any that needed it. Even on the rare days when the weather turned sour and clouds blotted out the sun, Simmons would go to check on his garden. 

“If you keep watering them so much, they’re gonna get root rot,” Grif commented, leaning against the fence. 

“What do _you_ know about gardening?” Simmons replied, looking up from his lettuce-tending to throw Grif a signature glare.

“Some stuff,” he said lightly. He had kept a little garden in the sparse front yard of his home back in Koloa. Buying organic stuff and then replanting was a hell of a lot cheaper in the long run than going to the store whenever he needed parsley. But Simmons didn’t need to know about his past financial struggles.

“Well, if you’re such an agricultural expert, why don’t you help me?” Simmons leaned back, placing the watering can down at his side.

“Seems like a lot of _work,”_ Grif sighed. Had to keep up the lazy good-for-nothing theatrics, after all. 

“C’mon, fatass. It’ll be good for you.” There was no sharpness in Simmons’ tone. The insult was purely instinctual at this point- he even had a little smile on his face as he went back to tending. 

Grif groaned once more but pushed off from the fence, walking around the length to enter the garden. 

“First of all, you planted your mint way too deep,” he said, getting on his knees to inspect the herbs. “It’s best if you surface-seed them, honestly… and you haven’t been watering them enough.”

“You just said I water too much.”

“‘April showers bring May flowers’, Simmons. Drench your seeds, sprinkle your plants,” was his reply. He began to resow some mint (properly this time) and took the watering can, pouring generously over them.

“Did you do any research about how to garden?” Grif asked as he continued to correct Simmons’ mistakes and toss out the occasional tip.

“I kinda just assumed… it’s more or less the same? Like, you plant them, water them, and they sprout.”

“Gardening is an _art form,_ Simmons. You don’t fix a waterlogged phone the same way you fix a crashed Warthog.”

“I thought you fixed everything by turning it off and turning it back on again,” Simmons quipped, standing up. Grif stood too, hands on his hips and turning to face his friend.

“Maybe a bad metaphor-”

“Analogy.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

Simmons chuckled, shaking his head. A stray lock of coiffed ginger hair fell in front of his eyes. 

“You’re the dumbest motherfucker I’ve ever met,” he said, but his features were soft. He didn’t mean it. Despite everything, Grif knew Simmons loved him. 

And Grif loved Simmons…

But by God, was he bad at gardening.

**Author's Note:**

> oh boy, first post!  
> wrote this in a rush in between online classes, so it's short and kinda shitty, but i am not sorry. we need more soft grimmons.


End file.
